On a snowy night in December 1977
I drove across the river from
Cincinnati to Kentucky to buy
the last 6-week-old chocolate poodle
offered in the employee newspaper.
AKC-registered her parents were
Burchfield’s Brown Brigand a toy
and Gidget Starnes II a miniature
poodle. This began my joyful 20-year
relationship with Tammy Sansone II.
She was named after my family’s
chocolate poodle Tammy I (1965-1977).
As most poodles she was very intelligent
and once paper-trained,
faithfully used her basement papers
while I worked a typical 12-hour day.
Later in Georgia we retrained her
to walk outside. She won second
place in obedience school and
could “speak,” lie down and shake.
I could never quite get her to “play”
the piano but she jumped up on the bench!
Always full of energy she pestered me
to throw her squeak toys.
Tammy knew which one was the newest toy
receiving one each birthday and
Christmas. All I said was “Get the new toy.”
She especially liked to
run down the basement stairs to fetch them.
This would go on all evening.
At Christmas we hid her wrapped toy
or she would find it among
the gifts under the tree without
opening the others.
Her favorite treats were
Flavor Snacks dog biscuits.
I taught her to eat
them on a kitchen rug but she snuck them
into the living room. No toys
were allowed on my bed.
But if I worked too late my “punishment” was
finding biscuit crumbs under
the bed covers and then being bombarded
with squeak toys during the night!
Because I traveled on business
frequently I couldn’t get out
the suit case in advance or she would get
into it,.
I suppose she didn’t want to be left behind!
Very affectionate Tammy licked my face
and nestled in my hair.
She waited for hours in the window
if “Grandma” (my mother) was coming for a
visit. Of the hundreds of men
I dated during my 20 years as a single,
the only man she really liked was Al my husband.
My favorite quip is I only married him
because Tammy approved!
Many of my favorite photos and
videos are of my two loves.
Tammy didn’t care much for other animals
but that all changed in April
1996 when a large gray cat began
visiting daily. He would Eskimo “kiss”
her nose-to-nose and rub along
the side of her body. By January Katz
became ours. If he didn’t want
to come inside after a day of play I
could coax him by bringing Tammy outside.
He would run to her. There
are priceless photos of Tammy
with my new “angel,” Katz. After Tammy
went to doggy heaven he touched
my heart when he continued to look for
her on my bed each evening.
He even crawled into a box of decorations to
dig out her mini Santa hat!
Each Halloween Tammy wore a costume
delighting the neighborhood kids
with her wardrobe: dresses jogging suits
a Mickey Mouse or Olympic
sweatshirts. Favorite photos show
her romping on the beach in a bathing
suit or posing in a shark shirt
with sun glasses on a Florida vacation.
Whatever she wore dress or sweater
people would remark “How cute.”
Tammy appeared in two corporate videos
one for AT&T in Ohio and another
for Contel in Georgia.
Tammy adjusted well to old age.
At age 12 she became deaf but quickly
learned hand signals.
She lost her eye sight at 18 yet
still walked guardedly
around the family room.
She continued to walk into her 19th
year. We celebrated her birthday
every November 1. On her 15th birthday
we had a milk-bone dog biscuit human cake
and held an open house for her
19th birthday.
For the last six years of her life
our family was inseparable.
Tammy went with us everywhere
to Callaway Gardens Kentucky.
Hiking and on many vacations.
We got adept at sneaking her into motels..
We vacationed at
a small pet resort in Florida.
She even went to church and once to Bible
study! Tammy appeared for a second
on the TV news when a priest blessed
her at the Blessing of the Animals.
She collected many nicknames:
Tamouschka Princess Poodle
TamBone Doobie Sweet Pea Lubers Doo-Boo,
Tam Stinky Pinky Boofer Berries Tubers and
Pumpkin. No story can
ever truly capture how special Tammy was.
To know her was to love her.
We miss her but I imagine that God
His angels and saints are throwing
squeak toys for her now in heaven!
Rita Maria Sansone
Love always,
| Tammy Sansone II |
| 12, Dec 1997 |
| Rita Maria Sansone |